Freeman Dysonhttp://www.desmogblog.com/taxonomy/term/4138/all
enFreeman Dyson is flailing outside his field of expertise; the NYT should be embarrassedhttp://www.desmogblog.com/freeman-dyson-flailing-outside-his-field-expertise-nyt-should-be-embarrassed
<div class="field field-name-field-bimage field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><img src="http://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/styles/blog_teaser/public/blogimages/Freeman%20Dyson.jpg?itok=Lb1z7hka" width="200" height="300" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Freeman Dyson seems like a nice man and, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeman_dyson#cite_note-9">in 1949,</a> he was certainly one of the most impressive physicists in the world. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Dawidoff">Nicholas Dawidoff</a> is a great sportswriter. And the <em>New York Times </em>(with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jayson_Blair">obvious exceptions</a>) is held to be a reputable and credible publication.</p>
<p>But none of that helps to explain why the <em><span class="caps">NYT</span> Magazine </em>would ask a sportswriter to research an <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/magazine/29Dyson-t.html?pagewanted=1&amp;_r=2">8,000-word article</a> on an issue he knows nothing about - featuring an 85-year-old “expert” who is similarly at sea on the issue.</p>
<p>Take what position you will on the degree of urgency, climate change is unquestionably one of the most important public policy issues currently facing any government in the world. It is somewhere between casually irresponsible and criminally reckless for a respected medium like the <em>New York Times</em> to undermine the quality of public discussion by putting so much focus on people who are so clearly out of their depth.</p>
<p><!--break-->Dyson’s position as a climate change is pretty <a href="http://www.edge.org/documents/archive/edge219.html#dysonf">well established</a>, and the position that he himself describes as “heretical” has <a href="http://initforthegold.blogspot.com/2007/08/dyson-exegesis.html">been categorically debunked</a><a href="http://initforthegold.blogspot.com/2007/08/dyson-exegesis.html"> point by point. As the University of Texas Research Scientist Michael Tobis puts it in this dismissal</a>, Dyson makes fundamental errors which show, “that the author has never even sat down with the undergraduate level approximation of how atmospheric radiative transfer actually works. It’s really quite shocking.”</p>
<p>Dyson might be forgiven such late-in-life contrarianism. He is a hugely accomplished physicist who deserves to be treated with respect. But that doesn’t mean he deserves to be taken seriously - at this point in his unrelated career - on an issue on which he has never conducted research or published in legitimate scientific journals.</p>
<p>Yet the <em><span class="caps">NYT</span>, </em>which we have a right to assume has a sense of responsibility, serves up Dyson - as interpreted by the aforementioned sportswriter. Even if the <em><span class="caps">NYT</span> </em>had offered a steady stream of interesting (and better-informed) articles on climate change in the last six or seven issues, this would be a questionable choice.</p>
<p>In the circumstances, it’s purely irresponsible - and it plays, shamefully and stupidly, into the hands of those people who would like to keep us confused on the issue of climate change.</p>
<p>If this clumsiness had come from a news outlet that is better know for pursuing an anti-science agenda - from Fox News, or Canada’s <em>National Post </em><em>- </em>you might just shake your head and think: “typical.” From the <em>New York Times, </em>well, you would have hoped that we could expect more - so much more.</p></div></div></div><!-- iCopyright Horizontal Tag -->
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<div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/4138">Freeman Dyson</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/4139">Nicholas Dawidoff</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/4140">New York Times magazine</a></div></div></div>Mon, 30 Mar 2009 23:49:31 +0000Jim Hoggan3791 at http://www.desmogblog.comFreeman Dysonhttp://www.desmogblog.com/freeman-dyson
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><h3>
<img alt="freeman-dyson" border="0" height="150" src="/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/freeman-dyson.jpg" width="100" /></h3>
<h1>
Freeman Dyson</h1>
<h2> Credentials</h2>
<ul><li>
<span class="caps">B.A.</span> in Mathematics, University of Cambridge (1945).</li>
<li>
Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, (1946–47).</li>
<li>
Attended Cornell University in 1947 with a Commonwealth Fellowship.</li>
<li>
Research Fellow, University of Birmingham, 1949–51</li>
<li>
Professor of physics at Cornell University, 1951.</li>
</ul><p><strong>Source</strong>: <a href="#s1">[1]</a></p>
<h2> Background</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.sns.ias.edu/~dyson/">Freeman Dyson</a> is a retired physics professor who is well known for his work in the area of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_electrodynamics">electrodynamics</a>.</p>
<p>According to one profile, “His most useful contribution to science was the unification of the three versions of quantum electrodynamics invented by Feynman, Schwinger and Tomonaga. Cornell University made him a professor without bothering about his lack of Ph.D.” <a href="#s1">[1]</a></p>
<h2>
Stance on Climate Change</h2>
<p>“As a result of the burning of coal and oil, the driving of cars, and other human activities, the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is increasing at a rate of about half a percent per year … the physical effects of carbon dioxide are seen in changes of rainfall, cloudiness, wind strength, and temperature, which are customarily lumped together in the misleading phrase 'global warming.'” <a href="#s2">[2]</a></p>
<h2>
Key Quotes</h2>
<blockquote>
<p>“'The costs of what Gore tells us to do would be extremely large,' Dyson said. 'By restricting <span class="caps">CO</span>2 you make life more expensive and hurt the poor. I’m concerned about the Chinese'.” <a href="#s3">[3]</a></p>
</blockquote>
<h2>
Key Deeds</h2>
<p><strong>March 25, 2009</strong></p>
<p>Dyson is the feature of an <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/magazine/29Dyson-t.html?pagewanted=1&amp;_r=3">8000 word article</a> in <em>The New York</em> <em>Times </em>titled “The Civil Heretic.” The <em>Times</em> quotes Dyson as saying global warming may indicate that “the climate is actually improving rather than getting worse” because increased carbon would promote forest growth and crop yields. However, the internationally-regarded <span class="caps">IPCC</span> <a href="http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/wg2/ar4-wg2-spm.pdf">concludes</a> that “climate change is expected to lead to salinisation and desertification of agricultural land.”</p>
<p>Although Dyson is a brilliant mind, and is revered as a physicist, he does not have a background in climate science. DeSmogBlog speculated how it <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/freeman-dyson-flailing-outside-his-field-expertise-nyt-should-be-embarrassed">seems strange</a> that the <em>Times</em> would choose Nicholas Dawidoff, a sports writer (albeit an accomplished sports writer), to research and write an article on climate change.</p>
<p><strong>June 12, 2008</strong></p>
<p>Freeman Dyson publishes “<a href="http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2008/jun/12/the-question-of-global-warming/" target="_blank">The Question of Global Warming</a>“ through <em>The New York Review of Books</em>. Dyson writes, “the only plausible explanation of the annual wiggle,” of <span class="caps">CO</span>2's <span class="caps">PPM</span> measurements, “and its variation with latitude is that it is due to the seasonal growth and decay of annual vegetation, especially deciduous forests, in temperate latitudes north and south.” <a href="#s7">[7]</a></p>
<h2> Affiliations</h2>
<ul><li>
<strong>The Institute for Advanced Study</strong> <a href="#s3">[3]</a></li>
<li>
<p><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/heartland-institute" target="_blank"><b>Heartland Institute</b></a>, “<a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20141204192403/http://heartland.org/freeman-dyson" target="_blank">Expert</a>” <a href="#s6">[6]</a></p>
</li>
</ul><h2> Publications</h2>
<p>According to a search of 22,000 academic journals, Dyson has published over 50 peer-reviewed articles mainly in the area of quantum mechanics.</p>
<p>Dyson has <a href="http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/dysonf07/dysonf07_index.html">articulated</a> his “heretical” views on climate in an extensive article of his own <a href="#s4">[4]</a> – which has been <a href="http://initforthegold.blogspot.com/2007/08/dyson-exegesis.html">debunked</a> on a point-by-point basis. <a href="#s5">[5]</a></p>
<h2> Resources</h2>
<ol><li>
<p><a name="s1" id="s1"></a>“<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/magazine/29Dyson-t.html?_r=2&amp;sq=freeman%20dyson&amp;st=nyt&amp;scp=4&amp;pagewanted=all">The Civil Heretic</a>,” <em>The New York Times</em>, March 25, 2009.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><a name="s2" id="s2"></a>Freeman Dyson. “<a href="http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2003/may/15/what-a-world/">What a World!</a>”, <em>The New York Review of Books</em>, May 15, 2003.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><a name="s3" id="s3"></a>“<a href="http://www.sns.ias.edu/~dyson/">freemon dyson: professor emeritus, sns</a>,” sns.ias.edu. Accessed December 6, 2011.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><a name="s4" id="s4"></a>Freeman Dyson. “<a href="http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/dysonf07/dysonf07_index.html"><span class="caps">HERETICAL</span> <span class="caps">THOUGHTS</span> <span class="caps">ABOUT</span> <span class="caps">SCIENCE</span> <span class="caps">AND</span> <span class="caps">SOCIETY</span></a>,” <em>Edge</em>, April 8, 2007.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><a name="s5" id="s5"></a>Michael Tobis. “<a href="http://init.planet3.org/2007/08/dyson-exegesis.html">Dyson Exegesis</a>,” <em>Only In It For The Gold</em>, August 12, 2007.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><a name="s6" id="s6"></a>“<a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20141204192403/http://heartland.org/freeman-dyson" target="_blank">Freeman Dyson; Expert</a>,” Heartland Institute.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><a name="s7" id="s7"></a>Freeman Dyson. ”<a href="http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2008/jun/12/the-question-of-global-warming/" target="_blank">The Question of Global Warming</a>,” <em>The New York Review of Books</em>, June 12, 2008.</p>
</li>
</ol></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-taxonomy-vocabulary-14 field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/913">global warming</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/939">climate change</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2540">desmogblog</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2560">global warming blog</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/2654">denial industry</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/3068">climate change denier</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/4046">global warming research</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/4047">climate misinformation</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/4138">Freeman Dyson</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/5721">smogger</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/6886">climate change skeptic</a></div><div class="field-item odd"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7705">climate denialism</a></div><div class="field-item even"><a href="/directory/vocabulary/7706">denial database</a></div></div></div>Tue, 06 Feb 2007 20:20:10 +0000Kevin Grandia1318 at http://www.desmogblog.com